Daily Archives: April, 8, 2009

There does seem to be some validity to the reports that ACORN plans to send “paid pretend activists” to some of these tea parties that are taking place across the nation. Here are some tea party organizers, discussing the issue with Neil Caputo on his show:

They aren’t concerned because the participants of these tea parties are a very well behaved lot. But the potential for trouble is real.

Huffpo is getting involved by calling for “citizen reporters” to cover the events:

“The Huffington Post wants to have citizen journalists at as many of these events as possible,” Arthur Delaney wrote for The Huffington Post on April 7. “If you think you’d be interested in attending one of the Tea Parties and reporting back to us with dispatches, photos, or video, click here to sign up. We’ll contact you shortly with further instructions.”

If you sign-up, you receive an automated message from Matthew Palevsky, the Huffington Post’s associate editor of citizen journalism.

“Thanks for becoming a Tea Party Reporter,” the e-mail from Palevsky says. “This e-mail is just a quick confirmation that we have received your contact info and will email you our plans during the coming week. In the meantime, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Whether they be questions, suggestions or story ideas, share them with us at submissions+ideas@ huffingtonpost.com.”

Tea party goers should be very cautious about what they write on posters, leaving the more extreme sentiments at home. Also,having been to three tea parties so far, I’m not concerned about misbehavior of any kind (including littering) coming from the conservative participants of these events. But I am worried that the infiltrators will serve as provocateurs, eager to report negative reactions to their incitements, real or imagined. Mostly imagined. The best defense against any such attempts to incite, is laughter and ridicule.

Just a heads up. Be aware of your surroundings. Videotape confrontations if possible so there is a true record of what took place. Remember, lefties play by their own rules, and the truth is relative.

Some good advice from former lefty, Roger L. Simon on potential provocateurs:

Keep your eye out for the most extreme characters and then ask yourself: Is that real? Is that person who he or she says he is? Cui bono, who profits, here from what they are saying or doing? Draw your conclusions (carefully!) and then act accordingly and completely within the law.

Lots more good advice from commenters on Simon’s post.

RELATED:

Be prepared for media mockery in some quarters.

Newsbusters reports that the NYTs finally deigned to report on a local tea party. Check out its coverage:

They were a band of like minds bent on dire provocations seldom witnessed in the harborside hamlet on Long Island Sound. It was a day for brandishing signs, shouting imprecations and donning silly clothing: tricorn hats and breeches, bonnets and petticoats. A few carried pitchforks, the better to jab the message home. We good farm folk are fed up and will be silent no more.

Their enemy: a tyrannical government heedless of the people’s will and blind to its manifold injustices. Their tactic: a Boston-style tea party, a symbolic rebellion for times that once again are trying men’s souls.

Anyone else detecting the condescension?

Tea parties are a recent phenomenon, spawned in the red-meat districts of right-wing talk radio and cable TV. It was strange to see the rebels reach Northport, whose antiques ‘n’ potpourri Main Street, with a half-dozen empty stores, could use a little federal stimulus.

This guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I listen to talk radio every day (unlike, no doubt, this reporter). I didn’t hear about the tea parties from “right wing talk radio”. I read about it online. Even now that the tea parties have caught on, I hear very little about them on talk radio. Also, isn’t it amusing that the idea that some Americans might not be interested in government hand outs, is totally foreign to this lefty?

But down at the park gazebo, the green lawn was rumbling with grass-roots anger. Actually, its grass-rootiness was highly debatable….Was this about Wall Street? Evil automakers? Greedy lenders who pillaged Long Island with predatory housing loans? No, no and no. It was not about fixing unbridled free-market capitalism, but ensuring its glorious restoration.Mostly, it was about tax cuts.

Look a little closer, buddy. The “grass-rootiness” is against redistribution of wealth. It’s about fiscal responsibility, free markets and free minds.

Sixty-five percent of Americans believe that the nation’s founders intended the U.S. to be a Christian nation and 55% believe that the Constitution establishes a Christian nation.

(I believe respondents were thinking in broad terms – not that a Christian theocracy was intended or desired.).

Obama made waves last summer when he made a similar comment in an interview with CBN News:

Whatever we once were, we’re no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.

There’s nothing wrong with celebrating our diversity. But the fact remains that the U.S. was built on strong Judeo-Christian principles, and there’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that.

At any rate, when he makes pronouncements like this, maybe he should make it clear that he’s speaking for himself, instead of using the royal, “we”, because there are plenty of Americans who disagree with him.

MORE:

See Gateway Pundit for the video of Hannity’s show, last night, which dealt with this issue.

Still MORE:

An epic rant from the dramatic and notorious man-lesbian, Rosetta, at The Hostages.